Udine – Eluana Dies

Father: “I have nothing to say. Now, I just want to be on my own”. Minute’s silence in Senate followed by shouting match.

MILAN – Eluana Englaro is dead. The woman who had been in a permanent vegetative state for 17 years after a road accident in 1992 expired at 8.10 pm from a heart attack that was probably due to kidney failure. Four days earlier, she had been admitted to the La Quiete geriatric clinic in Udine, where she was taken for the process of interrupting the forced nutrition and hydration that were keeping her alive. As far as we know, Eluana Englaro’s condition remained stable until early afternoon, when apparently there was a sudden deterioration that led to her death. Further confirmation came from Carlo Alberto Defanti, the neurologist who had been treating her for years: “She died suddenly”, he explained. “It was something we hadn’t expected. Eluana had a sudden crisis, the nature of which will be established by the autopsy that was already part of the protocol”.

SENATE STANDS STILL – The news broke while the Senate was debating the bill with which the government was attempting to block the protocol authorised by a ruling of the court of appeal in Milan. The Senate leader, Renato Schifani, immediately asked senators to observe a minute’s silence. Meanwhile, the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, indicated that he had learned about Eluana Englaro’s death “with profound grief”. He said: “There is deep regret that the government’s action to save a life should have been rendered impossible”. Mr Schifani decided to suspend the session of the Senate and immediately convened a meeting of group leaders. The welfare minister, Maurizio Sacconi, asked that the procedure should still be concluded to plug the gap in legislation which the recent debate had highlighted and “to prevent Eluana’s sacrifice from being in vain”.

TELLING THE FATHER – Anaesthetist Amato De Monte telephoned Beppino Englaro to tell him the news of his daughter’s death. Professor De Monte had been alerted at the first signs of deterioration. A patrol car sent by police headquarters picked him up at his home and swiftly drove him to the clinic, where Ms Englaro’s death was pronounced. “Yes, she’s passed away”, was the first comment from Eluana’s father. “But I have nothing to say. I just want to be on my own”.

MEDICAL RECORDS – In the meantime, the Udine public prosecutor’s office is examining Eluana Englaro’s medical records. It will be known on Tuesday morning whether an autopsy will be carried out on Ms Englaro’s body. Chief prosecutor Antonio Biancardi will decide with the forensic doctor and an expert appointed by the public prosecutor’s office. Among issues to be considered is the correct application of the protocol to banish all doubts regarding Ms Englaro’s unexpected death on the eve of the vote. The circumstance is regarded as very strange by both neurologist Gianluigi Gigli, a member of the Per Eluana committee, and by various Centre-right politicians.

REACTIONS FROM VATICAN AND POLITICIANS – News of Eluana Englaro’s death provoked a strong reaction from the Vatican: “May the Lord forgive them”, said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, chairman of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Operatives. There were also immediate reactions to the news from the world of politics. Some were particularly robust and the Senate very nearly became the scene for a brawl with People of Freedom (PDL) politicians shouting “Murderers, murderers”.

PRAYER VIGILS – Outside La Quiete, dozens gathered to say farewell to Eluana with hymns, prayers and lighted candles. In Lecco, the Sisters of Mercy at the Beato Luigi Talamoni clinic expressed dismay at the news of Eluana’s death. The nuns preferred to pray in silence, refusing to take part in the prayers organised at the church of San Nicoḷ, a few dozen metres from the private clinic where Ms Englaro was hospitalised until last Monday. Instead, they prayed in the privacy of the clinic chapel, reciting the rosary at the invitation of the chaplain, Fr Vittorio Baroni, to whom they spoke after finding out about Eluana Englaro’s death from the TV news bulletin.